


Autopilot

by poisonivory



Category: DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Justice League International (Comic)
Genre: M/M, Sex Pollen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-07
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 09:33:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/453986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonivory/pseuds/poisonivory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An impromptu vacation goes awry when one of Ted's science experiments gets a little...broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Autopilot

**Author's Note:**

> I worked hard not to make the sex pollen non- or dubcon, but it is there, so if that's not your thing, be forewarned. Thanks to mizzmarvel and queenitsy for betaing!

“Hey, can I fly?”

“No.”

“Can I man the weapons?”

“We’re not even fighting, and no.”

“Can I – ”

“No.”

Booster pouted and slumped back in his seat. “You never let me have any fun.”

Ted grinned as he checked a nearby readout and adjusted a lever a nearly imperceptible fraction. “If it’s fun you want, Booster ol’ buddy, I think I – or rather South Beach – can provide. In just two hours it’ll be nothing but thongs and roller blades as far as the eye can see.”

“Ted, I told you after the last time, I don’t want to go to any more of your family reunions.”

“Hardy har har.” Ted stuck out his tongue at Booster. “Note to self: Choose flight paths _around_ Metropolis from now on when in the Gotham area.”

“So what were you doing in G-Town anyway?” Booster asked, putting his feet up on the console in front of him.

Ted swatted Booster’s feet until Booster yelped and moved them. “Picking up some samples of that crazy aphrodisiac pollen Poison Ivy’s always chucking around.”

Booster raised his eyebrows. “Wow. You really _are_ looking for a good time.”

“Not for me, dingus.” Ted rolled his eyes. “As if I needed it, anyway. You are looking at a prime specimen of virility here, _mon ami_.”

“‘Dingus’…?”

“Batman asked me to take a look at them, see if I could come up with some sort of vaccine.”

Booster’s eyebrows went up again. “Batman _asked_ you?”

“Weeeeell…” Ted busied himself with checking the Bug’s humidity levels. “Perhaps I suggested it.”

“Uh- _huh_.”

“I said, ‘This is intolerable, Batman. It seems like every other day a superhero who normally comports himself with dignity and gentlemanly sangfroid –‘”

“So not us, then?”

“‘– _dignity and gentlemanly sangfroid_ falls victim to Ivy’s sadistic whim and finds himself rutting with the nearest living creature like a dog in heat. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem if you could just keep your rogues in Gotham – no offense, Batsy, but you might want to be a little more conscientious there – but as the situation now stands, it _is_ a problem, and I’m willing to take it off your hands. And although my specialty is inventing, I am a Jack of many scientific trades and I’m sure if I take a gander at Ivy’s spores or whatever I can whip up an all-purpose vaccine in no time. And do you know what he said?”

“‘Hn’ and ‘grr’?”

Ted looked nobly wounded. “He told me that he’d be grateful for my assistance, and that I should drop by the Cave any old time and grab some samples.”

Booster looked at Ted.

Ted shifted.

Booster continued to look at Ted.

Ted looked at a dial that monitored the status of the dials.

“He told you to stay the hell out of Gotham, didn’t he?” Booster asked finally.

“…Yes,” Ted said faintly, looking sheepish.

“And then you went when you knew he wasn’t there and Alfred let you in and gave you the samples, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“And we’re going to Miami because Batman will find some miniscule fiber or skin cell or something and know you were there and throttle your face off if we show up for a meeting, aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

Booster considered. “Works for me.” He put his feet up on the console again. “Did Alfred give you those little almond wafers with your tea?”

Ted nodded eagerly. “Yeah, with the jelly, and he gave me some for you, too.”

“Alfred is _so. Cool._ Ow!” Booster returned Ted’s nobly wounded look as he took his feet off of the console again. “You know, hitting is not nice.”

“And it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump from hitting to trying to take over the world with a plasma death cannon, I know. I read the pamphlets.” Ted rubbed out an imaginary smudge on the console with his thumb. “You just keep your feet on the floor, space boots, and you can save me from a life of villainy and hyperbolic monologues.”

“You _already_ do hyperbolic monologues,” Booster grumbled. “These seats are _uncomfortable_.”

“They are not, you big baby.”

“I have a very delicate heinie!”

Ted stared at Booster for a long moment, until Booster blushed and looked away. “Um. Good luck with that,” he said finally. “Anyway, once I get out of Metropolis airspace I can really open up the Bug, and then we’ll be in the Sunshine State in no time.”

“I though California was the Sunshine State.”

“No, California is the Buckeye State.”

“That’s _Vermont_.”

“Oh, look, Marty McFly knows all the state nicknames.”

“Okay, first of all I’m from the _twenty-fifth century_ , not _Oceania_ , and second of all – ”

WHUMPH!

The Bug rocked violently to starboard as something slammed into the hull. Ted leapt to his feet as Booster fell off his chair. “What the…?”

Something red and blue streaked past the windows. “Oh. Him.” Ted offered Booster a hand up. “I _really_ hate flying over Metropolis. Bug, run damage assessment.”

“Damage assessment commencing…”

Over the gentle _whirr_ of the Bug’s scans, Ted flipped a switch in the center of the console. “Supes?”

The famous S-shield and spit curl hove into view in front of the eyeports. “Hi, Beetle. Sorry about that; I didn’t see you until I’d already socked him, or I would’ve hit him in another direction.”

“Him?”

“ _Rassafrassin’BoyScout_ ,” Booster muttered, folding his arms across his chest sulkily. “Seventy-three kinds of vision and he can’t see a _giant blue bug_ in the _sky_.”

“Bizarro,” Superman clarified, ignoring Booster with the ease of long practice. “He’s somewhere in that pile of rubble down there.”

Ted looked impressed. “Boy, reconstruction crews in Metropolis must make a _ton_.”

“Yeah. Insurance isn’t great, though.”

“And you’d think _super-hearing_ might help him _hear_ the _giant blue bug_ , but _nooooooo_ …”

Superman’s eyes flicked towards Booster with something like annoyance in them, but he refrained from commenting. “There’s no dent in the hull, at least none that I can see. Any internal damage?”

“I’ll know in a second,” Ted replied.

As if on cue, the Bug dinged, and then chirruped, “Damage assessment complete: 0.0013%.”

“Sounds manageable,” Superman said.

Ted nodded. “Yeah, maybe some things in the cargo bay got knocked around, but she should be fine.”

There was an ominous rumble from the ground. “Uh oh, Bizarro’s getting his second wind,” Superman said. “Gentlemen.”

“Have fun!” Ted called as Superman flew off. Booster made a horrible face at the disappearing cape as the Bug continued on its flight path out of Metropolis.

“Very mature,” Ted drawled.

“Like _you’d_ know.”

Ted stood up. “I don’t particularly trust you out here alone, but I’d better check the cargo bay. Don’t touch anything, okay? I like my radio settings where they are, and I also don’t want you to cause us to crash and die.”

“When have I ever crashed a vehicle?”

Ted raised an eyebrow. “Last week. Remember? Incidentally, you’re a terrible driver. Why do they keep giving you licenses?”

Booster smiled and pointed to his cheeks. “Do you see these dimples? They are like magic.”

“God help us all.” Ted headed for the cargo bay, then turned back. Booster quickly pretended he hadn’t been checking Ted out. “I mean it, though. Don’t touch _anything_. I’ll be right back out.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“And if something starts blinking or beeping or turning or vibrating, come get me, okay?”

“Vibrating…?”

“And if you see anything in our way, come get me. Don’t try to steer around it. I’ve seen you play _Blackhawk Squadron_ , you’re awful.”

“Just _go_ already, would you?”

Ted sighed. “Fine. Remember, no touching!” Looking fretful, he disappeared into the cargo bay.

Immediately Booster turned to the radio and changed all the settings. “I swear, the man has the _worst_ taste in music,” he muttered. “Oh man, Science FM? That has got to go. There!” He pressed the last button with a flourish.

…Maybe too much of a flourish, because his elbow caught the – rudder? steering stick? – and the Bug dipped suddenly to the side. “Shit!” he hissed, and nudged it back, but not before hearing a crash and a muffled curse from the back.

“I didn’t do it!” he yelled.

“Liar!” Ted yelled back. Well, at least he wasn’t hurt.

“It’s your fault! You should have put the Club on or something!” Booster settled back in his chair, waiting for Ted to come out and attempt to swat the back of his head.

But Ted didn’t come out. All Booster could hear was some faint rustling from the back.

“Yo, Teddy! Booster called. “You okay?”

There was no answer. Booster’s brow furrowed. What was he doing back there? He’d sounded unhurt before, but maybe… But everything in the cargo bay was secured, Booster knew that. The only thing that might be rattling around loose was Ted’s little Poison Ivy happy kit. And even if that broke, it wouldn’t _hurt_ him, it would just… 

He froze. “Oh, no. No, no, no,” he muttered. “Our lives are _too_ stupid for it not to have broken. Ted, get out of there!” he yelled, leaping to his feet and heading for the doorway. “Ted – “

Ted appeared in the doorway. One glance confirmed Booster’s suspicions – cowl removed, pupils dilated, face flushed, and a fine dusting of something amber and sparkly standing out garishly against the dull blue of his costume.

Booster shook his head. “See? Our lives are stupid.” He tilted his head. “Ted?”

Ted blinked and slowly, deliberately, licked his lips.

“Okay, now Ted, just stay calm,” Booster said, backing away, his hands up defensively.

“Booster,” Ted said. His voice was low, raspy, and the hair on the back of Booster’s neck stood on end. Oh, _why_ couldn’t this have happened with Batman or Ralph or someone Booster could actually _resist?_

“Yes. Booster! Your friend! Not someone you want to sleep with!” Booster backed up, but Ted kept coming – no, not coming. Booster winced at the poor word choice. _Advancing_. 

Ted looked confused. “But I do,” he said.

Booster’d lost the thread of the conversation. “Do what?”

“Want you,” Ted said, and Booster bumped into the chair he’d been sitting in and went tumbling backwards over it.

His head hit the floor with a crack. Hissing with pain, he pushed himself away from the chair with his legs – but then he couldn’t move, because Ted was suddenly straddling him, holding him in place.

“Ted, this really isn’t a good idea,” Booster said. This close, he could see that the pollen or powder or whatever must have hit Ted full in the face, because there was a scattering of that same amber powder along Ted’s nose, his cheeks, his chin…his lips.

Ted smiled, and if this wasn’t really Ted, if this was crazy drugged-up plant-pheromoned Ted, then it was really unfair to let him keep that smile, that smile that always made Booster go along with the next misguided scheme. “It’s a _great_ idea,” he said, and licked Booster’s mouth.

“Uh,” Booster said, mouth falling open. Ted took that opportunity to kiss him, his tongue slipping past Booster’s teeth, his hands sliding across Booster’s chest. He tasted funny, like tropical fruit oversweet and overripe, and the taste and smell of him flooded Booster’s senses.

“Oh God,” Booster tried to say, but Ted’s tongue was in his mouth, and it came out sounding more like “Uhguh.” But that was okay, because Ted was kissing him, and anyway Booster was an atheist. He arched up into the kiss.

Ted’s hands were scrabbling at his throat, looking for something – oh. Ted apparently found the seam where the cowl met the body; good thing Ted had repaired it so many times and knew how it came apart. Booster lifted his head and let Ted pull the cowl off, and oh, this was better, no bumping against goggles and Ted’s hands were hot against his face and in his hair.

He pressed closer, rocking into Booster’s crotch, and moaned against Booster’s lips. That too-sweet scent was in Booster’s mouth and nose and lungs, and something was buzzing inside his head. It didn’t matter. He felt for the fastenings of Ted’s shirt and tugged.

Ted knew what he wanted. Sitting up, back against Booster’s thighs, he pulled his shirt off. Booster squinted at him, wanting to see the flex of Ted’s muscles as he moved, the flush of his skin, but everything seemed hazy, and the sunlight streaming in through the windows was far too bright.

Then Ted was pressed against him again, and Booster hastily peeled his gloves off so that he could explore Ted better – the scars, the jut of ribs, the sensitive places that made Ted jump when he poked them. Ted’s skin was hot beneath his hands, feverishly so. Booster felt like he was burning up, too, little prickles of heat running helter-skelter beneath his skin.

He rolled them over and pulled his own shirt off, but it didn’t make things any better. He was still hot, far too hot, everywhere he touched Ted and from the inside out. His pants were uncomfortably tight now, and bucking down into Ted didn’t help, but he couldn’t seem to stop. Ted still smelled and tasted like fruit, like bright tropical flowers, like…

Pollen.

Ted sucked on his lower lip and cupped Booster’s erection through his tights, and it was good, it was so good, it was everything he’d ever wanted from Ted but couldn’t admit, and…

Wrong.

This was wrong.

With an effort, Booster pushed himself away and sat up. Ted looked up at him, breathing hard, mouth obscenely red and wet, a picture out of Booster’s most secret fantasies.

But his eyes were dazed and mindlessly hungry, nothing like the eyes Booster knew.

“I can’t do this,” Booster said.

Ted frowned and rolled his hips upwards, making Booster gasp. “Sure you can,” he said, and there was just enough humor in his voice, just enough of a spark…

No. “ _We_ can’t do this,” Booster amended, sliding off of Ted and onto the floor. “You’re not yourself.”

“Who else would I be?” Ted got to his hands and knees and crawled towards Booster, and oh God oh God oh _God_ who _cared_ about atheism?

Booster pressed himself back against the base of the console as Ted kissed him, willing himself not to move. He succeeded, as long as trembling didn’t count.

Ted reached for Booster, and Booster grabbed his hands, breaking the kiss.

“Look,” he said. “We’re going to be in Miami in like an hour and a half. You’ll check in to your room, take a nice cold shower, and then, if you still want to have sex, I will be more than happy to oblige. But wait until then, okay?”

Ted looked thoughtful. “Or…how about we have sex now, shower _together_ , and then have more sex? Starting with sex now.” He reached for Booster again, and Booster swatted him away.

“You’re kind of missing my point here, Ted,” Booster said, standing up.

Ted grabbed his thighs. “Oh, I think I can find your point easily enough,” he said, raising an eyebrow at Booster’s crotch, just a few inches from him now.

Booster made a face. “Okay, now I _know_ you’re not in your right mind, because that’s not even good innuendo.” He reached down and hauled Ted to his feet. “Sit.”

Ted sat in the chair Booster was pointing to. Booster sat in the other chair and stared resolutely ahead. “See? This is easy.”

There was a rustle; then Ted’s tongue was in his ear.

“…or not.” Booster pushed Ted away. “Bad Ted! Sit!”

Ted flopped into his chair, looking sulky. This time Booster kept an eye on him, although staring at a flushed, shirtless Ted wasn’t helping him to stop thinking about sex.

Ted’s gaze slid to Booster’s. Slowly, deliberately, he licked his lips, and without thinking about it Booster shifted in his seat. Ted smiled triumphantly.

“Changed your mind yet?” he asked.

“ _No_ ,” Booster said a little too loudly, and looked away.

There was another noise, the squeak of Ted shifting his weight in his chair. Booster turned quickly, throwing his hands up defensively – to discover that Ted had shucked his tights off, and was now wearing nothing but boxers. Boxers with a very noticeable tent in the front, to be precise.

“Aw, come _on_ ,” Booster said.

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Ted pointed out with a leer.

Booster leveled a finger at the boxers. “You leave those on, do you hear me?”

Ted just kept leering.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Booster muttered, and looked away again.

Ted took the opportunity to spring acrobatically from his seat and onto Booster’s lap.

“Gah!” Booster yelled, jerking back and clonking his head on the back of the seat.

“Hmm. Not quite the reaction I was hoping for, but I’ll take it,” Ted said, leaning in for a kiss.

Booster clapped a hand over Ted’s mouth. “Okay, that does it,” he said. Ted licked his hand. “Ew. Do you have any handcuffs?”

Ted pulled back from Booster’s hand. “Kinky. I like it.” He stood up, mercifully, and pulled out a pair from a drawer in the console.

“Thanks,” Booster said as Ted handed them to him. “C’mere.” They walked over to the cargo bay door, which Booster closed. “Sit.” Cuffing one of Ted’s wrists, he passed the cuffs through the handle of the door, then closed the other side on Ted’s free wrist.

Taking a step back, he looked down at Ted: the muscles in his arms and chest and stomach lean and stretched from holding his hands above his head, skin ruddy and glowing, eyes dark with arousal, legs spread, and a damp spot growing at the tent in his boxers.

Then he turned and walked away.

“Hey!” Ted called after him. “Where are you going?”

“Over to this chair,” Booster replied.

“But…but…sex!” Ted protested. “Lots of it!”

“No,” Booster said. “At least, not until you’re in your right mind again. And since I can’t trust you not to jump on me, you’re staying over there until I need you to land this thing.”

“But I need you _now_ ,” Ted replied. Booster tried to ignore the desperation in his tone and sat down in the passenger seat, his back to Ted.

“I think you’ll get through it,” he said.

“Booster, _please_ ,” Ted said. “I need you to fuck me.”

It was a good thing Ted couldn’t see Booster’s reaction, because it would have given him away completely. He bit his lip, flushing hot and cold, and shut his eyes. It didn’t help – Ted kept talking.

“Come on, Booster, buddy, please, I need you to come over here and take me, just fuck me right here on the floor. I’m yours, all yours. God, Booster, I want you so bad, I’ll do anything, _please_ …” Booster could hear the soft _clink_ of the handcuffs against the door handle and the roughness of Ted’s breathing. He dug his fingernails into the armrests and tried to recall the more obscure chapters of his old football rulebook.

“…whatever you want, I’ll do it, just _please_ , I need your cock inside me, please Booster…”

Booster lunged for the radio. Science FM was still on, but he still turned it up as loud as it could go. Anything to drown out Ted’s voice, because Booster had never been able to resist the man when he got to talking, and Ted had never been more convincing.

The Bug shot through the skies towards Miami. Booster tried to focus on the discussion on the radio – something about black holes, and gravity, and alternate dimensions – but his brain was too full of the sound and sight and taste of Ted, ready and willing and _begging_ for him. He wasn’t sure if he’d gotten a dose of the pollen himself or if it was just Ted doing this to him, but heat was coming in relentless flashes from deep in his belly up to his cheeks, and he was faintly dizzy, punch drunk. Not to mention he was painfully hard beneath his tights.

Well, the heat and the dizziness he could do something about. He fiddled with the climate control – one of the few areas on the console that Ted allowed him to touch – until he’d gotten fresh air circulating from outside and into the Bug, hopefully carrying some of that pollen away with it.

It improved things a little, but only a little. After all, he’d been carrying a quiet torch for Ted for years. A little fresh air couldn’t make him forget that. Booster sank back against his seat and gave up on trying not to think about Ted, about how easy it would have been to just say yes. He could almost feel Ted’s fingers in his hair, Ted’s lips on his neck…

Wait a minute. He _could_ feel Ted’s fingers and lips. Booster jerked forward and craned around to see Ted, who had been leaning over the back of his chair.

“What th…How did you…But I…!”

Ted held up handcuffs, no longer attached to his wrists. “Please. Getting out of cuffs is Superheroing 101. Now take off your pants.”

Okay, Booster had definitely been affected by the pollen, because he _knew_ Ted could get out of cuffs. In fact, Ted could get out of cuffs a whole lot faster than he’d just done; further proof, if his latest comment wasn’t enough, that he wasn’t in his right mind. And – 

“No!” he yelped as Ted reached for his pants. “I told you!”

“Yeah, yeah, shower, then sex. Your plan is boring.” Ted’s face was flushed, intense. “I like my plan, where you fuck me right now.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Booster said, even as his cock twitched at Ted’s words. He stood up, dragging Ted up with him. “Come here.”

Ted followed him willingly. Booster sighed internally. Fool Ted once, shame on Booster; fool Ted twice, shame on the pollen that was rendering Ted completely stupid. Although maybe Ted was just following him to take advantage of Booster being in front, because his hands were roaming in an extremely friendly fashion over Booster’s ass. He pinched, and Booster let out a squeak which he did his best to turn into a manly cough.

“In there,” Booster said, opening the cargo bay door and giving Ted a hearty shove inside. Then he slammed the door closed and locked it.

“You do know I built this thing and know how to take the door off the hinges,” Ted called through the door. “A little unscrewing…and then a whole lot of _screwing_.”

“Again with the bad innuendo,” Booster called back, leaning against the door. He could already hear Ted going to work on the hinges.

“So why don’t you just open the door and fuck me already?” Ted’s tone would have passed for casually conversational if his voice hadn’t shook.

Booster laughed bitterly. “You think I don’t want to?”

“You’re sure acting like you don’t.”

“Ted, I’ve wanted to sleep with you from pretty much the day I met you,” Booster said. There was silence from the other side of the door, and Booster didn’t stop to speculate on what that might mean. “If you – really you, in your right mind, without crazy vegetative sex dust coating your lungs – told me you wanted me, I’d be there, in a heartbeat, no question. But right now it’d be taking advantage, and I’m not about to do that to anyone, let alone my best friend in the world.”

There was silence; then Booster heard the soft squeak of the hinges resume. He sighed.

“You’re probably going to want to step away from the door,” Ted said after about ten minutes. “It’s going to come down in that direction.”

Booster stepped back. A minute later, the door did indeed fall outward, and Ted stepped blinking out into the main cabin. He took a step towards Booster, then faltered, shaking his head.

“Booster…?” He rubbed his eyes, looking confused. “I feel weird.”

Booster nearly went limp with relief. The pollen was wearing off.

“You should probably have…a drink of water or something,” he said, making it up as he went along. “ _Cold_ water. And then just…sit. Just sit.”

“Okay.” Ted kept a supply of fresh provisions (mostly coffee and Twinkies, although the actual necessities of life were there too) in the back, and after fetching himself a cup of water, he sat down in the driver’s seat and stared off into space.

Booster watched him carefully out of the corner of his eye. Ted kept closing his eyes and tightened his grip on the armrests, or giving these funny little gasps. Every so often he made a move towards Booster, then shook his head like he was trying to clear it, and settled back. And it was pretty clear from the state of his boxers that he was still hard, which wasn’t helping Booster’s own arousal any. But he definitely seemed to be coming out of it.

Still, it was an awkward rest of the flight, and Booster was glad when they finally touched down in Miami – and glad, too, that Ted was with it enough to land the Bug, since his digs at Booster’s vehicular prowess weren’t entirely unjustified. Checking in as superheroes always got them better rooms, so they pulled the discarded bits of their costumes back on, avoiding each other’s gazes. Sliding the futuristic material over cold, clammy sweat wasn’t pleasant, but there wasn’t much Booster could do about it. He just hoped they didn’t look too flushed and sweaty. That’d either get people in a panic, thinking there was a rampaging supervillain nearby…or give them something entirely too close to the right idea.

Check-in was an equally awkward but thankfully short process, and Booster soon found himself in a decent-sized suite, with Ted disappearing into the adjoining one next door. Booster peeled off his costume and took his promised shower – cold. Then, pulling on his favorite faded pair of jeans and an old t-shirt, he flopped onto the bed and turned on the TV.

He flipped through the channels three times and finally settled on the one showing all the amenities the hotel had to offer. After a good fifteen minutes of staring blankly at footage of the hot tub and cocktail lounge, he had to admit it to himself.

He was depressed.

That little jaunt up there in the Bug had almost certainly irrevocably damaged his friendship with Ted. Even if their relationship had been able to withstand Ted getting high and throwing himself at Booster like a cat in heat, Booster’s little confession… God, what was he _thinking_ , letting loose with a monologue like that? Ted’d probably never want to speak to him again.

The worst of it was that it was all true. He’d always wanted Ted. And his only chance – which wasn’t really a chance at all – had undoubtedly just passed him by.

He dragged his mind from its morose thoughts and turned his attention back to the television screen. That _was_ a pretty nice cocktail lounge, actually…

There was a knock on the door – not the front one, but the adjoining one. Booster swallowed. “It’s open,” he called.

Ted opened the door; rather timidly, Booster thought. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Ted walked over to the bed. He’d showered too, and his hair was still damp, curling across his forehead. He was wearing a fresh pair of boxers and a worn undershirt with a hole in the shoulder, and he looked so good it hurt, standing there barefoot and clean-smelling in front of Booster’s bed. Booster had to look away.

“Look, Booster…I’m sorry.”

Startled, Booster turned back to Ted, who was staring intently at the carpet now. “What?”

“I’m sorry I, like, molested you back there in the Bug. Um…I didn’t mean to?”

Booster stared at him. “Of _course_ you didn’t mean to. You were drugged.”

“Yeah, so…um, do you hate me now?”

“Are you crazy?” Booster demanded. “Yes, Ted, how dare you have a normal human physiology. We’re so in a fight now.”

The relieved smile Ted gave him warmed Booster to his toes. Okay, maybe their friendship _wasn’t_ ruined forever after all.

Ted sat on the bed next to him. “So I was skimming Batman’s files on that pollen while I was downloading them,” he said, “and it looks like the pollen only brings out attraction that’s already there. That’s why Ivy doesn’t work on most women. At least that’s the theory.”

“More’s the pity,” Booster said, abruptly distracted by the thought of all the women he’d like to see making out with Poison Ivy.

“And I showered,” Ted went on, as if it was a continuation of his former thought.

Booster’s eyes flicked to the wet curls at the back of Ted’s neck. “So I see.”

“Yes. Allll showered up,” Ted said, sounding strangely emphatic. “And sober.”

“I…good?” Booster was pretty sure he was missing something here.

Ted let out a frustrated puff of air and turned the TV off. “Did you mean what you said when I was in the cargo bay?” he asked.

“What, about you having bad taste in music?”

“No, and I do _not_.” Ted looked suddenly embarrassed. “I mean about…being attracted. To me.”

Booster’s heart plummeted to his stomach. Here it was: the end of the friendship. He thought about lying, but one look at Ted and he knew he couldn’t.

“I…yes.” He looked away. “I did. I… _am_. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“What do you mean, why am I sorry?” Booster snapped, embarrassment and grief making him short-tempered. “Maybe because I just freaked my best friend out with my secret lusty feelings for him and now he’ll probably never talk to me again!”

Ted let out an exasperated huff. “Booster, were you listening to a word I just said?”

“What?”

“ _The pollen only works if you’re already attracted to the person._ And it worked on _me_.” Booster could practically _hear_ Ted rolling his eyes. “Keep up, Booster.”

Booster suddenly realized that Ted’s hand was on his, a tentative brush that belied his sarcastic tone. He looked up at Ted, startled. “Are you saying you still want to…?”

And glory be, Ted was actually blushing. “Well, you did say we could after I showered. And I’m all squeaky clean now!”

“What if it ruins the friendship?” Booster asked, even as he turned his hand over and interlaced his fingers with Ted’s.

Ted smiled crookedly. “I’m tired of pretending. And I figure that if sex is going to ruin the friendship, it’ll do it now that we both know that I want you and you want me, so we might as well have the fun of actually having sex.” He reached up and thumbed a lock of hair off of Booster’s forehead. “But I think we’ll be okay.” And he leaned in.

The kiss was nothing like the ones in the Bug. It started out delicate, timorous, the softest brush of lips slowly deepening, long and slow and languid, and through it all Booster didn’t let go of Ted’s hand.

When it ended, Booster rested his forehead against Ted’s and fought to catch his breath.

“Yeah,” he said. “We’ll be okay.”

Then he pulled Ted all the way down onto the mattress with him, their legs tangling, his hands weaving themselves through Ted’s hair. He could have kissed Ted lazily all day, any other day, but his body still remembered its earlier disappointment and was impatient. With Ted’s help, he pulled first Ted’s shirt off, then his own.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Ted murmured, kissing his way down Booster’s chest.

“You say that like it’s news,” Booster quipped, trying to pretend his heart hadn’t just flipped over at Ted’s words. Ted just laughed and unbuttoned Booster’s fly.

Booster lifted his hips up and Ted tugged his jeans and briefs off together; then Ted shucked off his own boxers and clambered on top of Booster. He was straddling him again, like he had in the Bug, but the grinning, alert, _alive_ Ted looking down at him was a far cry from the frantic mess he’d been just a couple of hours ago.

“Come here,” Booster said, reaching up, and Ted leaned forward to kiss him, rocking his hips forward as he did so that their cocks rubbed together. Booster gasped and bit Ted’s lip a little, and Ted laughed into his mouth.

Booster reached up, pulled Ted even closer, and oh, this was so good, this was everything…

Ted let his lips brush Booster’s ear. “So, about that whole ‘fucking me’ thing…”

…unless Ted suggested that.

“For real?” Booster asked.

Ted rolled his eyes. “No, I’m kidding. I was only _handcuffed to a door_ , freaking _begging_ you to take me _right there on the floor_ , but ha ha, pysch!”

Booster couldn’t help laughing. “Okay, okay. Jeez, _someone’s_ pushy.”

“Well, if you don’t want to…”

“Oh, I want to.” Booster flung himself sideways across the bed, reaching for his duffel bag. Ted’s hands skimmed lazily across Booster’s thighs and buttocks before goosing him and making him yelp and almost drop the lube and condom he’d finally located.

Booster rolled back onto the bed properly and attempted to glare at Ted, who was snickering. “You are a very bad man,” he told him.

“Fair enough,” Ted said, sliding down and spreading his legs. “Come on, let’s make me a worse one.”

And okay, _that_ was just _hot_.

Booster squirted a generous amount of lube onto his finger and let it slip between Ted’s buttocks, pressing forward until he encountered resistance. He looked up at Ted.

“Go ahead,” Ted said, and slowly, steadily, Booster pushed his finger the rest of the way in. He stroked, slowly, his other hand petting Ted’s thigh, and Ted’s eyes fluttered closed.

“Another,” Ted said, hips twitching forward slightly. Booster added more lube and pressed a second finger in. Ted hissed, and Booster went a little more slowly, scissoring his fingers as he thrust in and out, and – 

“Oh, God!” Ted cried, his head falling back.

Booster grinned. “Well, hello there, Mr. Prostate.”

“That’s,” Ted panted, “that’s some really sexy pillow talk you’ve got there, Booster. You gonna – _hhh_ – give me a puppet show, too?”

“Well, I would, but my hands are just a _little_ busy right now,” Booster said, curling his fingers forward, and Ted moaned.

Booster stroked until Ted was thrusting helplessly upwards, his head thrown to the side, hands scrabbling at the bedclothes. “More,” Ted gasped. Obediently, Booster added a third finger, loving the way it made Ted groan and shudder and clench around him.

Suddenly Ted tried to sit up. “Enough,” he said, pushing Booster’s hand away. “Fuck me.”

“You sure?”

“Do I _look_ sure?”

Booster took in all of Ted: flushed, sprawled on the bed, legs spread wide – hooray for gymnastics – and dick leaking precome against his stomach. He squinted. “Pretty sure,” he admitted.

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“Well, for one, I’ve lost the condom.”

Ted stared at him. “I hate you now.”

“Wait, no, here it is!” Booster turned back a fold of the blanket and held up the little foil packet triumphantly.

“Okay, I take it back, I love you again,” Ted said. “Now come on, get the lead out.” Booster leered at him. “That’s not actually a dirty expression, you know.”

“It _should_ be.” Booster tore open the packet and rolled the condom on, then slicked himself with more lube. He watched Ted watch him stoke his dick, watched Ted’s eyes widen and his Adam’s apple jump.

Then he shifted forward, and then – slowly, slowly – he slid into Ted. He was tight, but not too tight for Booster to press forward, further and further, until he was all the way in, his face buried in the crook of Ted’s neck, his arms trembling with the effort of moving that slowly.

And this, this was it right here. If Booster could feel this way until he died, he would be the happiest man on any Earth.

Ted pressed up against him, kissed his temple, pushed his hair back from his sweaty forehead. “More,” he gasped. “Booster, _please_.”

Shifting his weight back so that he could move, Booster began to thrust shallowly into Ted, his eyes fixed on Ted’s face. Ted moaned and reached for him.

“More,” he said again. “ _Harder_. Please.” Booster obliged, picking up a harder, steadier rhythm, but that wasn’t enough. “Dammit, Booster, fuck me!”

Booster could do that. If that was what Ted wanted, Booster would do it all night long. Booster would do _anything_ Ted wanted, as long as Ted kept being hot and tight and lithe and gorgeous beneath him, rocking his hips up to meet Booster’s thrusts and fisting the bedclothes desperately.

“ _Yes_ ,” Ted said, head falling back. “Like that, just like that… _unh_ , Booster, _yes_.”

“God, Ted,” Booster mumbled. “So hot, so good…” and then words were lost to him, lost in the wake of Ted’s eyes and Ted’s moan and Ted’s heels at the small of his back and the tight sweetness of Ted around him. Ted was arching up, jerking his own cock desperately.

“Fuck, yes, fuck me,” he babbled. “Fuck me, Booster, _fu_ – ” and then he was clenching around Booster’s cock and coming in an arc across his stomach, his eyes shut tight.

Booster kept driving his hips forward, helplessly, mindlessly. He was close, so close, he just needed…

Ted opened his eyes, and smiled at Booster, and Booster came.

When he returned from the stratosphere, Ted was untangling his legs from around Booster’s waist and petting Booster’s back gently. Booster pulled out slowly, peeled the condom off, and tossed it in the wastebasket; then, grabbing a couple of tissues and handing them to Ted, he lay back down. Ted wiped himself off and tossed the tissues in the general direction of the wastebasket.

“See?” Ted said after a minute of lying there while Booster’s fingers traced lazy patterns across his chest. “I told you you’d have fun in Miami.”

Booster chuffed an exhausted laugh. “And this is what you had in mind?”

“Okay, not exactly,” Ted admitted. “But this was way better.”

“Definitely.” Booster curled closer against Ted’s side. “Do you think we’ve destroyed our friendship forever and ever?”

Ted looked thoughtful. “Well, our friendship is good. Sex is good. So our friendship plus sex equals _double plus good!_ ” He craned his neck to look at Booster. “I’m really good at math, see.”

Booster kissed him. “That’s very comforting,” he said when he pulled back.

“I thought it might be.”

Booster suddenly remembered something. “Are you going to report your findings to Batman?” he asked with a grin.

“‘After exhaustive research, I have concluded that Booster Gold totally wants to do it up the butt with me’?”

“Something like that.”

“I think I’ll wait until he’s drinking something first. See if I can get a spittake out of him.”

“A noble goal.”

“Hey, I’m a superhero.”

Booster’s laugh was muffled as Ted pulled him in for another kiss, but he didn’t mind. Supervillains, high-altitude crashes, and mind-altering substances notwithstanding, this was the best vacation ever.


End file.
